TikTok is Chinese spyware, it’s not even remotely close to anything from the glory days of the internet. There is not enough traffic being driven to independent, small sites, the web has consolidated to a few, highly politicized, tightly controlled, sites.

But you have to watch a video right? IMO that's a terrible way to consume content for entertainment purposes. Great for advertisers though.

The best way to learn to cook is longform video [1] or some good cookbook. The rest is just being in the kitchen.

TikTok and other shortform content always either gloss over important parts or don't actually look like good recipes - just good recipes to see in a bitesized video. Cooking for the non-cook.

I've tried some TikTok things I've seen, but they're always super simple (like a potato dish and a sauce) and not a full-featured recipe you can serve for dinner like a coq au vin

[1] e.g. Laura Vitale on YouTube for a perfect example - I've tried 10s of her recipes and they never fail and I often learn something. The videos are 10-20 min long, and their format makes you feel more confident going into the kitchen because you actually saw someone cook something. She makes instagram reels too, but they are just ads for her show. You can't actually act on them.